About a month ago I wrote a long post about convictions I've had this year about how I spend my time and about my attitude towards the things that are a constant part of my life.
Tonight while I was driving home I had a familiar realization come to me. That realization was that I've drawn closer to God going through this stressful year than I have during less stressful times of my life. and what it all boils down to is that I'm content to live on cruise control (set at MY speed) and as long as life is going well I just continue on. It's not until I hit a bump in the road (stress, strained relationships, etc) that I come running back to Him. And once I weather that storm by leaning on Him I then slowly start going back to relying on myself instead of Him. It's a cycle that I can look back on my 23 years on this planet and see it over and over again.
I don't doubt that I'm going to fail yet again. But maybe, just maybe, I can learn to start leaning on God during the good times too. And maybe, just maybe, I'll stop relying on my own abilities to run my life and give it over to the Holy Spirit's leading.
It's pretty quaint that this is happening at the end of the year. I could say something dumb like "this is my 2011 new year's resolution". But this isn't my 2010 new year's resolution. This is the rest of my life.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Spending Time
What do I spend my time doing? At the end of the day when I look back at what I accomplished - did I actually accomplish anything?
I've been feeling convicted recently about making sure that I spend my time doing things with eternal significance rather than the useless things I usually spend my time doing. Before I get any further into this I should say that I don't think that we have to shun all forms of relaxation from our lives. If watching an hour of TV at night or reading a (good) novel helps a person to relax at night before they go to bed then maybe that event has a useful place in that person's day. My point is not to try to eliminate these things entirely from our lives. What I'm struggling with is how to put as many worthwhile things in my life so that I'm functioning at the highest level I can for His glory while not burning myself out in the process.
Burning myself out is an issue I've struggled with a lot in 2010 and I think a lot of my problems stem from the fact that I rely on myself rather than relying on God. I could write an entire post about that topic.
As for deciding what's worthwhile and what's not, even that can be complicated. Fellowship with other believers is important. At what point does it become more than useful fellowship and just time wasted with no greater purpose? Having fun with friends isn't a bad thing. Where's the balance?
And then things like the normal tasks we have to accomplish everyday in order to our lives to function. Those have a place in our lives and we should do everything in our lives to the best of our abilities and for the glory of God. Part of life is work. There are many verses in the Bible that talk about diligence in working and being a good worker. I don't think there's any doubt that we're supposed to do our jobs to the best of our abilities. Do I go into work every morning with the goal of doing the best that I can that day?
Then we have the things like dishes, laundry, grocery shopping. Some of these tasks are more enjoyable for me than others. I suppose every person is different. Regardless, these things have to get done. These are part of our "work" even if we don't get a paycheck for performing these tasks. Do I do these tasks to the best of my ability? Do I even do these tasks? How long has that pile of dishes been sitting in my sink?
How is God going to use me for bigger tasks if I can't even complete the simple tasks that I already have in my life?
My goal right now is to change my attitude at work. More importantly, I want to become diligent and taking care of the simple tasks in my life like keeping up on the dishes and housework. These really are basic things in life. I should be able to handle them. I have a feeling it'll be a process with lots of failures and procrastination. It'll be good practice for when I ask God to help me to do bigger things.
Side note: For anyone out there reading this, if you haven't read "Do Hard Things" by Alex and Brett Harris, you should. Doesn't matter how old you are.
Convictions can be a powerful thing. The ability to respond to those convictions and pursue with diligence can be a hard thing to do.
Luckily, God can enable us to do hard things.
I've been feeling convicted recently about making sure that I spend my time doing things with eternal significance rather than the useless things I usually spend my time doing. Before I get any further into this I should say that I don't think that we have to shun all forms of relaxation from our lives. If watching an hour of TV at night or reading a (good) novel helps a person to relax at night before they go to bed then maybe that event has a useful place in that person's day. My point is not to try to eliminate these things entirely from our lives. What I'm struggling with is how to put as many worthwhile things in my life so that I'm functioning at the highest level I can for His glory while not burning myself out in the process.
Burning myself out is an issue I've struggled with a lot in 2010 and I think a lot of my problems stem from the fact that I rely on myself rather than relying on God. I could write an entire post about that topic.
As for deciding what's worthwhile and what's not, even that can be complicated. Fellowship with other believers is important. At what point does it become more than useful fellowship and just time wasted with no greater purpose? Having fun with friends isn't a bad thing. Where's the balance?
And then things like the normal tasks we have to accomplish everyday in order to our lives to function. Those have a place in our lives and we should do everything in our lives to the best of our abilities and for the glory of God. Part of life is work. There are many verses in the Bible that talk about diligence in working and being a good worker. I don't think there's any doubt that we're supposed to do our jobs to the best of our abilities. Do I go into work every morning with the goal of doing the best that I can that day?
Then we have the things like dishes, laundry, grocery shopping. Some of these tasks are more enjoyable for me than others. I suppose every person is different. Regardless, these things have to get done. These are part of our "work" even if we don't get a paycheck for performing these tasks. Do I do these tasks to the best of my ability? Do I even do these tasks? How long has that pile of dishes been sitting in my sink?
How is God going to use me for bigger tasks if I can't even complete the simple tasks that I already have in my life?
My goal right now is to change my attitude at work. More importantly, I want to become diligent and taking care of the simple tasks in my life like keeping up on the dishes and housework. These really are basic things in life. I should be able to handle them. I have a feeling it'll be a process with lots of failures and procrastination. It'll be good practice for when I ask God to help me to do bigger things.
Side note: For anyone out there reading this, if you haven't read "Do Hard Things" by Alex and Brett Harris, you should. Doesn't matter how old you are.
Convictions can be a powerful thing. The ability to respond to those convictions and pursue with diligence can be a hard thing to do.
Luckily, God can enable us to do hard things.
